Canon City News

Patrick Mace, 5, takes part in the ropes course at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience on Monday as part of his Wish Day through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Patrick Mace and his parents, Brentyn and Denise Mace, of Pennsylvania, prepare for a drive to the Marsh Quarry and to see the dinosaur tracks on Skyline Drive by Colorado Jeep Tours on Monday as part of his Make-A-Wish Foundation trip to Colorado. (Zach Reynolds / Special to the Daily Record)

Five-year-old Patrick Mace enjoys learning about dinosaurs and paleontology by watching documentaries, but he got some hands-on learning when he visited the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience on Monday as part of his Make-A-Wish trip to Colorado.

Patrick and his parents, Brentyn and Denise Mace, traveled from Pennsylvania to fulfill his wish to learn more about dinosaurs during his Wish Day. His younger sister stayed home with family so Patrick could be the star of his own show.

"This has been an amazing experience because there is so much he (typically) can't do," Denise Mace said. "That he 'can' do all of this, it's incredible."

When the Make-A-Wish Foundation learned abut Patrick's love for dinosaurs and paleontology, they recommended the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience to the Mace family.

"I just can't stress how amazing it's been and how awesome Make-A-Wish is," she said.

Patrick was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease in which a portion of the heart is enlarged. Patrick is asymptomatic, but the condition is potentially life-threatening.

"He is really limited in things he can and can't do," Mace said. "He can't do sports, and he will never attend gym class like the rest of his friends do; he can't do little league, and he has to be careful with playground equipment — if he falls off, it can be dangerous."

Advertisement

His parents carry an automated external defibrillator with them everywhere they go with Patrick because although he is asymptomatic, he can go into sudden cardiac arrest at any moment.

Patrick is monitored by doctors, including undergoing an echocardiogram twice a year and a cardiac MRI annually, which requires him to be under anesthesia. He may require a pacemaker when he is older.

When asked what his favorite part of the trip was so far, he said he didn't "like" any part of it, however, he "loved" everything about it.

A personalized stone that will be placed in front of Patrick Mace's favorite animatronic dinosaur to commemorate his visit to the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience. (Zach Reynolds / Special to the Daily Record)

The Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience also was a destination for a little boy from the Denver area in August 2016, just one month after they opened.

"It's humbling," said Zach Reynolds, president of the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience. "It's also extremely thrilling for us to be able to have such a unique opportunity to have a kid who has potentially a shortened life have the experience of getting something that he really wants to do and that we can be part of that."

In addition to the personal, guided tour of the dinosaur museum, Patrick also was treated to a wish party with dino decor, a $100 shopping spree in the gift shop, a lifetime membership to the museum and time in the ropes course, the animatronic wild walk and the Paleo Lab, all courtesy of the Dinosaur Experience.

A personalized stone will be placed in front of Patrick's favorite animatronic dinosaur to commemorate his visit.

"This goes along with our main core mission to be able to educate and build family memories," Reynolds said. "This fits perfectly within the spectrum of that for a family that is at that place where they can use it more than anybody else."

The Mace family also visited the Museum of Nature & Science on Saturday, the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden on Sunday, and after their visit to the Dinosaur Experience on Monday, they were treated to a drive to the Marsh Quarry and to see the dinosaur tracks on Skyline Drive, courtesy of Colorado Jeep Tours. The Quality Inn also donated the family's room while they were in Cañon City.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.